Saturday, September 10, 2011

My husband and I have been blessed with three lively daughters (which I admit doesn't feel like a blessing on some days).

Eight years ago, I held my first baby girl and could feel that she was fresh from the presence of her Father in Heaven. I could feel her innocence and purity. And I knew that as much as I might love her, I knew that her Heavenly Father loved her even more and with a perfect love.

I knew that He sent her to earth to receive a physical body of her own, to be baptized, to get married for eternity, and to have an eternal family.

A few days ago my family had the privilege of witnessing this sweet daughter of ours follow the example of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, by entering the waters of baptism.

With priesthood authority, her father baptized her by immersion. When she arose out of the water, her face was beaming. Afterward, I helped her change into her new white dress and hugged her tight.

At that moment, I felt so much love for her, feeling her purity and goodness all over again. I also felt strongly that her Heavenly Father loved her dearly and was pleased with her choice.

On that very special day, she chose to live up to her divine nature and destiny. And with each good choice, she comes closer to God, and closer to fulfilling the reasons why she came to earth in the first place.

The same is true for each of us, as Heavenly Father's spirit children. He has a plan for our happiness and salvation which centers on making and keeping covenants with Jesus Christ and on creating eternal families.

The Family Proclamation tells us that "All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."

If I could teach my daughters one thing to help them navigate this sometimes difficult life, I would have them understand that their female spirits are literal offspring of Heavenly Father. This makes them royal daughters of the Heavenly King. The same could be said about boys--they are royal sons of the HeavenlyKing.

Integral to this knowledge is that, in order to fulfill their divine destiny, they must keep their spirits and bodies morally clean.

When my oldest daughter was two, I wrote this song to the tune of "I Love to See the Temple" to help teach her the importance of her body. We often sing it as a family during Family Home Evening.

"My Body Is A Temple" (by Alana Lee)

My body is a temple,
I treat it with respect.
I live the word of wisdom.
I'm modest in my dress.
For my body is a gift from God,
He wants me to protect it.
My mouth speaks clean words,
My thoughts are pure.
This keeps my temple holy

Any child who knows who they truly are will be better able to live up to his or her divine destiny, walk the path that He has shown, help make this world a better place for all of God's spirit children, and return to live with Him someday.

Alana Lee grew up in Ohio (when I knew her we were both Young Women there!) Since then, Alana Lee has served a full-time mission in the Netherlands and Belgium. She and her husband Heath were married in the Manti temple. Alana has a BS in Sociology from BYU and a Master's degree in Organizational Behavior. (But don't let her brainy resume and angel face fool you...she's got a wicked sense of humor!) Now, she is a stay-at-home mom who does graphic design work on the side. (You can see the custom birthday invites she creates at her blog.) Alana lives with her husband and three daughters on a mesa near Kirtland, NM surrounded by several family members, and more recently...by chickens. Alana plans to write the ending to her first novel in the near future.

Thanks, Alana!

Looking for more ways to teach your children about their divine destiny?

You can download the game, which prints on regular 8.5x11 paper by clicking on the images or links below. One document contains the game board, the next document contains questions and game pieces. Simply download, print, cut, and play!

Thank you, Alana for today's guest post, for sharing your original song lyrics and this fun way to talk about the truths found in The Family Proclamation with our children!

From minimoments comes this sweet custom diversity family peg dolls. These make great open ended toys and are montessori and waldorf inspired. You will win one of the families already painted or get a custom painted straight-legged family (up to six members). Your choice!

Minimoments also sells diversity friend peg dolls and these cute customizable missionary dolls that can be made into Christmas ornaments.

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My youngest son came home from sunday school a few weeks so excited to tell me what he learned in class that day he said "Mom did you know our bodies are a temple" I said yep (it's funny how you can tell a child yourself the same thing but it doesn't really sink in until someone else tell them) but his comment after that was "I don't want to get my temple dirty, I'm going to keep mine white" he has since that lesson referred to that lesson many times. I am grateful for those that help to teach my children good and righteous ways. Thank you for sharing your thoughts I enjoyed reading them and you did a great job on the game, and I loved your song.

Thank you for your lovely words and thoughts. I am sending each of my grown children a copy of your game, so they can teach all my granddaughters and grandsons about their divine nature. Your song is great too! Thank you!

Thank you so much for your kind words! And thanks, Jocelyn, for including me in "Celebrate Family." (BTW I did submit the lyrics to The Friend magazine, but as far as I'm aware, it was never published.)